Note that I view Darkrai's island differently than is "canon", I guess. Also, originally Hunter was going to the Legendary Palace, but then I decided not to include that and changed some of his parts to Shirley's instead. If you see any mistakes about that, let me know!


(Hot Springs, 10:34 p.m.)

"Ah…." Cresselia sighed in bliss as she sunk further into the hot spring that Celebi had created especially for her, as a 'thank you' gift for helping her do some 'spring cleaning'. "This is almost sinful…."

"I know…." Suicune sighed just as dreamily as her friend, murmuring as her eyes drooped shut, "Doesn't it just make you want to go to sleep for a thousand years?"

"Hey, I've done enough of that," Jirachi spoke up from beside her, and then he snuggled down farther into it until the water was up to his chin as he added, "Although this may make me change my mind."

Mesprit sat beside him, and she covered her mouth with a paw to hide her smile at the little guy's completely relaxed expression. "Tell me about it!"

"I'm really thankful you all enjoy this," the Lunar Swan smiled as she looked at her friends all making sounds of pleasure and delight, and then turned to the Grass/Psychic-Type and thanked her, "This would have been nothing without your help, Celebi."

"Don't mention it," she smiled, feeling rather content herself by the soothing steam of the water, "I'd literally do anything to stop having Mew and Azelf bothering me all day and night."

"You mean that's where he's been?" Mesprit grinned at her, feeling sorry for her and yet glad that she was spared the torture. "I almost pity you, but then I'd be the one being annoyed!" Celebi rolled her eyes and then dove into the water with a splash, making the others squeal as they turned their heads away to avoid getting their faces wet. The green fairy came up with a playful grin on her face that matched the bothersome pink feline's, and the other girls all started to splash each other with much squealing and giggling ensuing afterwards while Jirachi laughed and leapt into the fray, too. It was a very much enjoyable soak, even when they tired themselves out and all just gave a simultaneous sigh that couldn't seem to amount to all of the satisfaction they felt. And with all the gossip they were exchanging, it wasn't surprising that they had all been looking forward to a night like this. It was so relaxing….

"Have you heard that Moltres kicked Zapdos out of their big hide-out this morning?" Cresselia overheard Mesprit chatting with Celebi about it, and she couldn't help but peek an eye open and murmur, "What did 'he' do this time?"

"It's just the normal 'you're-a-girl-dammit' time again, where she kicks her out until Articuno finally pities her and sneaks her back in," the pink-and-blue Spirit shrugged, and then she grinned and commented, "Seriously, I would have thought that giant birdbrain would have gotten it straight in her noggin by now, with Moltres and Lugia trying to drill it into her head!"

"Yes, well," the Lunar Pokemon smiled lightheartedly, "you know Zapdos – she is probably still sore over the fact that Lugia "whooped her ass" back in the 'Chosen One' business." She gave a small chuckle as the others all giggled around her and then sunk her neck back into the springs, ready to marinate her tense and stressed muscles in a relaxing way that they rightfully deserved, with all of her 'Legendary' business….

Suddenly, a shiver went up Cresselia's spine, and she sat up reasonably straighter and narrowed her eyes as her 'dream' senses were tingling.

Darkrai…what are you up to now?

"Whazza matter?" Mesprit sat up a bit in the spring to get a good look at the swan. "…Is it him again?"

"Yes," Cresselia mumbled and then sighed in regret as she ascended from the hot spring, shivering as her skin rose into a frenzy of goosebumps, already missing the warmth. It was actually quite ironic, really; she was the giver of good dreams, and yet Darkrai's temperature was warmer than her even as a phantom. She sighed, feeling that this was going to be a long night, and told them, "Hopefully I'll be back, girls."

"Do you want one of us to come with you?" Celebi's tone sounded cautious, since they all knew how ugly the two masters of dreams could be when confronting each other – especially about the other's ability. When Cresselia sighed again and shook her head, the green fairy frowned but let her go, calling as she left, "Try to keep him in one piece, Cressi!"

"I'll try," she mumbled as she closed her eyes and Teleported, ready to give the phantom a piece of her mind. When she reopened them, she found herself on the Dark-Type's island retreat, and she quickly zoomed off to find where he hid himself in his massive and neglected home – trees and other plants grew everywhere in a wild frenzy, and yet nothing else lived within the jungle of vegetation. "How he can bear to live here," she muttered as she used her Psychic powers to part the foliage out of her way, "I will never understand."

Eventually, she found her destination – a cave hidden behind some brush that she never would have noticed had there not been a dim light glowing from behind the fern leaves. She poked her head from between the branches and looked around with narrowed eyes as the fire in the cave was bright and pierced her night-adjusted vision like a knife. After she had adapted to that, she hovered inside and went on her search for Darkrai, when –

"What are you doing here?"

She turned her head at the sound of the Pitch-Black Pokemon's Absol assistant, and as she glanced at Arc with the look of indifference that she was supposed to have as a Legendary she informed her, "I have to speak with your master."

"He's in the back," she jerked her head behind her and then stepped aside, although she glared at the Lunar Pokemon as she passed with a warning plain on her face. She didn't take it personal, as she was sure that her assistant, Kazza, would do the same for her for any trespassers. On her way, however, she met the human's Haunter hovering very close to the ground with a sour look on his face, and he looked up at her and blinked in surprise before asking, "Umm, Cresselia? Err…what are you doing here?"

She couldn't help but smile at his nervousness – after all, he had no clue how to act in this situation – before it dropped and she told him, "I have to speak to Darkrai." No sense in beating around the bush, really, since that would just give him time to notice her presence and prepare –

"Why?"

She turned her head, thinking, well, speak of the devil, just as the phantom-like Legendary seeped up from the floor like a shadow. She noted with slight surprise that he held a book haphazardly in his claw that he had hanging down against his side before her gaze snapped back up to the annoyed look in his visible eye. His cerulean orb was narrowed in suspicion, as if expecting her to be plotting something, before he inquired callously, "What do you want, Cresselia?"

He spoke her name like a curse, and she gave an indignant huff before hissing back, "I would like to know what you are up to, Darkrai." Her eyes were narrowed, and Psychic power whipped up around her in glowing pink tendrils that made Hunter shiver and feel rather uncomfortable sitting in between the two dream-makers. It didn't faze Darkrai – it never did – and his own Dark energy started to form around them as if ready to combat her power, looking like malicious shadows that wanted to strike at her like angry serpents.

"'Up to'?" He repeated the phrase as if he felt insulted, and then he crossed his slender arms across his front and stared her down, as if daring her to say it again. When she didn't take his offer, he then asked, "Why must I always be 'up to' something?"

"Because you're Darkrai," she growled much like a Houndour, angry that he was playing stupid. "All I know is that someone is having a nightmare, and you are the 'Dark Prince' of them." She floated a bit closer, glowering at him as if he was an insect that was irritating her beyond "livid". "What are you planning?"

"Planning?" He seemed to like repeating her as his eye frowned for his covered face, and then he asked, "Why does every nightmare have to be my fault? I haven't even thought of that tonight, thank you very much. And now, if you will excuse me," he raised the book that was in his claw and said smugly, "I would like to finish this book that Uxie lent me." He then turned as if to float away, and that was when she snapped.

She snarled and zoomed in front of him faster than he could blink, and she got in his face and hissed, "Someone I know is having a nightmare! How can you be so damn calm about it?!"

His face was indifferent as far as her searching eyes could tell, but his tone was filled with suppressed anger as he told her as calmly as possible, "Because I couldn't possibly have given a powerful nightmare since the moon is still showing. Or haven't you paid attention to the cycle?"

"No, I have," she sighed and backed away a bit, wanting to wipe that smug look from his visible eye, before she asked urgently, "Well, if you aren't the one to blame, then what is?"

"Not all dreams are caused by our powers," he reminded her. Then, he shrugged as if he really had no clue and suggested, "Perhaps it's one of the person's own creation. Now, who exactly is receiving this nightmare?"

"Err…." She would have bit her lip if it wasn't a part of a beak. "I'm not exactly sure. I suddenly received the sensation I normally get whenever someone I have connections to receives a nightmare, and I had to investigate it," she added regretfully, "no matter what I was doing."

"Well, I can see that," he gestured to her as she glared at him, "I mean, you're all wet."

"Oh, shut up," she snapped at him irritably as if she was breaking a twig, and then floated away a bit as she started to 'pace'. She hummed in a thoughtful tone, thinking, who could it be? I normally only keep 'tabs' on important people, like the Legendaries or human leaders or whatever. So who…who could it be?

"I doubt that a Legendary is having a nightmare," the Pitch-Black Pokemon pointed out as if reading her mind, and she gave him a glance before continuing her avid pacing in the air, trying to figure out who it could possibly be. Darkrai watched her with his arms still crossed, tapping one of his claws on his elbow for a while before it stilled as he suggested, "What about DL?"

"Hm?" She turned her head to him again, brought out of her thoughts by his own idea, and in the corner of her vision she could see the Haunter perk up at the name.

"The human, Megan, DL, whatever the hell you want to call her." He gave half of a shrug, saying, "It was just a thought, but I'm sure she gets dreams like the rest of us."

"Hm." The short hum was a sound of thoughtful consideration, and then she remembered the words that their recent subject of interest had said to her. "Not that I don't like a good dream, but in my mind a nightmare is a creation of our darkest secrets and deepest fears melded into one horrible creature that lurks around our minds until it drives us insane." She mumbled, "I remember her telling me that 'if she could understand her nightmares and overcome them, then she could overcome any of her fears and bear any secrets that she had to.'" Hunter looked like he wanted to say something, but he bit his lip and kept it shut as he watched the two Legendaries converse about his Trainer.

"Wonderful memory," Darkrai commented, and when she rolled her eyes and turned her body around to fully face him he proposed, "If she's having a nightmare, then shouldn't we investigate?"

"Hm?" She would have furrowed her eyebrows if she had any as she stared at him blankly in confusion. What is he talking about?

At the expression on her face, he elaborated, "Since we control dreams on both ends of the spectrum, I believe that we have a right to know what she's dreaming about."

He nodded to himself, as if he had to agree with what he just said, but then he scowled when she protested loudly, "But we can't just barge into her dream and spy on her! I can't believe you would think of such a thing, Darkrai!"

He shrugged, as if not really thinking it was that big of a deal, and mumbled, "Well, you don't seem to mind barging into my dreams often enough…." It was true, she did at times decide to waltz into his dreams and give him a piece of her mind, but….

"But this is different! I mean, the things that go on between you and me, we don't bother anyone else with it. But, eavesdropping on someone else's thoughts…."

"Alright," he shrugged again, not really looking like he cared either way. "Suit yourself. I'm going to go finish that book now, if you'll excuse me." He turned around just as the Lunar Pokemon did to leave, but as he kept up with the motion of departing she froze and thought about it carefully, biting her lip. Should she really do something as underhanded as pry into DL's head? After all, she had the power to; with her power over dreams, she could do whatever the hell she wanted in a dream. But, was it really right to take advantage of the situation? Yet…would she ever get a chance like this again?

A heavy sigh found its way from between her lips as she closed her eyes in defeat, and she called out, "Wait, Darkrai."

"What, did you miss me already?" The phantom came up from the ground before her, probably smirking behind that giant red thing that blocked her view of his mouth, and she opened her eyes to glare at him as he crossed his arms again, this time the book noticeably missing as if he had been expecting her to surrender.

"I'm not saying in any way that this is right," she quickly growled before he could say anymore, "in fact, this is the farthest thing from 'right', even farther then 'left', and I –"

"Oh, don't get your wings in a bunch," he twisted his claw in display as his visible eye glowed, looking rather eerie in the dim light of the fire that lay behind him, seeming to frame him in a fiery glow like the Grim Reaper. She shivered at the sight, to which she could see his smirk in his eye before he turned around and floated off, beckoning, "Are you coming, 'Cressi'?"

She scowled as he used the nickname given to her by her friends in a sour tone. "Right after you, 'Darky'." She smirked smugly when he returned the scowl before, with a flash of bright light and a 'swoosh' of overwhelming shadows ironically side-by-side, the two Legendaries were transported to the Legendary Palace, leaving poor Hunter with Arc as she huffed and lay down much like the ancient Egyptian monuments, except with one paw over the other as she glared at the opposing wall like an intruder. "Don't bring me along…." she muttered among various other insults, "Never bothers to ask, that…underhanded…pink…Halloween decoration…."

Hunter sighed, thinking, this is going to be a long night….


(Legendary Palace, 10:56 p.m.)

"Shh," Shirley put a finger to her lips and murmured, "she's asleep."

"No way, genius," Darkrai replied mockingly, and as the Psychic-Type gave him sour look from behind his back Cresselia rolled her eyes at her counterpart's cruelty before hovering over to the human in her bed curled around the Egg like a mother Ekans would. Her Raichu was laying right beside her protectively, but with a simple Dark Void from Darkrai, he was stuck in slumber and scrunched his nose as he experienced one of the light nightmares that the Dark-Type had in stock. She shot him a glare for doing that, but he just shrugged and told her, "Hey, you weren't offering to do anything, so I took it into my own…claws."

She just sighed and shook her head at him before lowering her hover and laying her neck so her head rested on DL's stomach, closing her eyes as she felt around for the dream she was having. She was concentrating hard, for the human's mind was deep within her subconscious and had to be slowly and gently tugged out so that she wouldn't wake up. After a while, Cresselia sat up to give a stifled gasp and open her eyes, the sound of her gulping breaking the silence that had fallen when she began her investigation.

"Yeah, she's having one."

As the Gardevoir visibly stiffened Darkrai looked as if this was like confirming that the sky was blue or something, and then he floated closer and lay his claw where she had just been as he too closed his eyes. He seemed to be in deep meditation while the other two waited nervously, and then Shirley whispered curiously to the Lunar Swan, "What exactly is he doing?" She was afraid to disrupt his work because of both the possible consequences and her own curiosity.

"He's trying to find a link to her nightmare," she explained just as quietly, her eyes glued to the phantom before her working diligently. "I can only sense them, but he is able to actually find a way to enter her mind and into her nightmares. I can do the same for good dreams."

As they fell silent once more, Darkrai couldn't help but mentally add, and she forgot to mention that the only exception to those rules would have to be for each other, since she can enter my nightmares and visa versa. He kept his attention absorbed onto DL as she slept unawares, only moving whenever she twitched and mumbled something in her slumber. Eventually, he began to sweat, and he would have halfhearted thanked Cresselia for using her Psychic powers to wipe it away from his visible eye if he wasn't so immersed in doing his profession.

Finally, after much tiresome devotion to the task, he was rewarded as he glowed a slight glittery cerulean, and he quickly turned and reached his claw so that one was perched on Cresselia's nose, before suddenly they were engulfed by shadows and pulled into DL's limp body. They earned themselves a whimper from the human before it all became deathly quiet, and they closed their eyes for a split second to find themselves suddenly standing (actually, none of them were standing…so, okay, floating) in broad daylight before a house.

Cresselia blinked at the strange sight in the nightmare. "Where…are we?"

"In her nightmare," Darkrai said matter-of-factly, a look of 'duh' on his face before becoming indifferent as he crossed his arms and looked up at the two-story house before them. It was painted something that was probably supposed to be like a bright and warm homey tan, but when he squinted his eyes (and yes, he can see with both of them, despite one being covered by hair) he could point out places where the paint was chipped and cracked, and if he looked for it he could see where the house had been weathered and whittled away by various things. To the indifferent observer, it could look like the most welcome place on Earth, but if you looked more closely you could tell that something about the entire place was wrong.

Not normally one to care about a human's things, he for some reason felt a pang in his chest, and when he made a thoughtful 'hm' sound, Cresselia turned her head to glance at him and mumbled, "You feel it, too?" At his slight nod, she turned to the house and raised her elegantly curved neck as if using it like a radar, and after a moment she asked him, "Well, are we all going to stand here, or are we going to 'investigate'?"

Darkrai answered her question by floating over to the house wordlessly, and after a silent sigh the Lunar Swan followed, unfazed by the bright sunlight. The two Legendaries weren't bothered by it for some reason (maybe the fact that it was a dream), even if they were nocturnal beings, so they opened the door and slipped inside. He simply phased through it as it closed and blinked when he found Cresselia staring around at the furbishing of the house. Picture frames were everywhere, and yet when they looked at them they turned fuzzy as if the focus of the screen was off, and when they noticed two little boys playing with toy cars in the front hall they also become aware of how their faces were missing eyes – instead of two bright or angry eyes, there were only shadows, and it was an unnerving sight to see for both of them. The redhead smirked and plowed through the blonde's car, shouting, "Haha, my truck's invincible!"

"Oh, yeah?" The blonde gritted his teeth and smacked it right back, yelling, "Well, mine has an invincible-proof force field!"

"That's not fair!"

"Is too!"

"Nuh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"I can see that getting annoying after a couple of minutes," Darkrai grunted rather irritably towards the children as they continued on down the hallway, surprisingly passing the two without catching their attention as they followed a faint glow from around the corner. When they rounded it, however, the source of the glow wasn't there as they came across the scene of two parents in the kitchen. They were whispering to each other with chuckles and giggles as the ingredients for a cake were splayed all over the room messily, with slops of batter and flour and eggs and water were everywhere – on the floor, on the walls, and even the ceiling. The woman was a beautiful blonde with a sparkling smile underneath her elegantly curved nose, while the father had balding brown hair and flecks of gray in his short beard, and the two made a pretty picture as they fussed over the directions in a cookbook.

Cresselia inhaled sharply just as Darkrai pointed out the obvious: "I assume those are her parents." They passed the kitchen door without even entering, for the same glow they had seen before was down the hallway, illuminating the first step on the staircase. As soon as they reached it, however, the glow faded and the next step was lit up, and so it went on like that all the way up until they reached the top and looked down the hallway towards four doors. One door was shimmering.

They passed each open doorway one-by-one, glancing in for a second as they passed them to examine what was inside – the first had purple and blue paint on the walls with flowers spotted all over; the second was blue-and-red with posters of Kyogre and Groudon all over; and at the end of the hallway after the second-to-last door was what was probably the master bedroom, the door opened a tiny crack. As they approached their destination, the door pulsed a faint white before it slowly leaked away onto the floor like droplets of water, soaking into the carpet and disappearing dramatically, and Cresselia thought, and that is definitely not creepy at all. After a moment of them standing (err, floating) there and staring at it expectantly, Darkrai finally scoffed as if tired of their hesitance and glided forward, nudging the door open for her to look in as he entered without another sound. She followed quickly and gazed around the room in wonder.

The walls were a warm yet threatening scarlet color that engulfed her room in a bloody blanket as her comforter on her bed was black-and-white themed, with an adorable little plush-toy of a Poochyena sitting there as if to protect the little girl curled up there with her hands over her head. Several other Pokemon Dolls were strewn all over the room, with a huge Snorlax in one corner and a comforting Lapras in another, and it was a bit strange because they all seemed to have frowns and their eyes were all focused on the little brunette sniffling and shivering on her bed. Cresselia frowned as her face seemed to say in disbelief, "This is it?"

"No one wan's to pway wid me…." The frail little voice mumbled from beneath her arms as their attention was drawn back to her, and she sat up in her bed as her melted chocolate eyes were red and her face was puffy with constant crying and wiping away tears. She sniffed again and looked down at her hands, her face scrunched up in a nastily sorrowful way as she sobbed, "And Nikky's such a big meanie! I didn' mean to bweak her stuff…."

She then collapsed back onto her bed and sniffled more, looking like a pitiful little child as most kids her age did (around six or seven at least), and Darkrai rolled his eyes and mumbled, "Oh, please…."

Then, they all were surprised when she sat up again and looked around, asking with a croak, "Who's dere?" Although she was obviously 'heartbroken', it seemed her curiosity overrode any negative feelings she had as she carefully climbed out of her bed and started to poke around her room, moving aside toys as she kept on calling out, "Who's dere? Hewwo? Anyone dere?" She kept up her search for a while, until suddenly she gave a small shriek and fell backwards on her butt, covering her face as if afraid a Flamethrower was being hurled at her. Darkrai was by her side immediately to investigate the nightmare, and he looked over to where she had fallen from and stared at a black lump that had a tan-ish/orange-ish spiky ball-thing wiggling violently. After a moment, it suddenly popped up and shook its head, and they stared down at the Banette as it tried to get its bearings and figure out its surroundings. After a moment, however, it seemed to notice DL, and it jumped in fright and opened its mouth as if to yelp – although no sound came out – and then curled back up into the ball again, shivering in fear.

After a moment, DL peeked from behind her fingers, and eventually she eased up and crawled over on her hands and knees to stare at the bump with curiosity, gradually gaining enough courage to take one of her tiny skinny fingers and poke it in the side. It flinched, and she blinked, and then she poked it again to watch it squirm and scoot away from her. She frowned and asked it, "Wha' dis blobby-tingie? It feels funny and sof'…." She smiled a bit at the discovery and poked it again, but gasped when suddenly it opened up and the Banette growled at her and snapped at her finger. She backed away a bit in temporary fear, but then she giggled a little and told it, "You're funny! Funny-squishy-ting!"

It frowned at her, its zipper-mouth curved down with its tag wiggling a bit at the movement, but when DL reached over to grab the zipper it hissed and backed away, and then its paws seemed to become engulfed in shadowy power before suddenly it was released into a Dark Pulse. It smacked her head-on in the face, but instead of it doing something like sending her flying backwards with an explosion of power it just seemed to absorb into her and make a dark aura pulse around her briefly, and her eyes widened before her eyelids drooped and she fell forward onto the floor, unconscious. Cresselia went to catch her, but – either because this was a dream or Darkrai was nullifying her powers – she went right through the Psychic-net and smacked her face hard into the floor, making a 'thud' that seemed to reverberate throughout the house. Almost immediately, footsteps were heard, and a blonde with long, curly-ish hair stepped into the room already saying, "Megan, what have I told you about jumping arou–" When she caught sight of her, though, she covered her mouth as if to hide a gasp and then went rushing down the hallway, calling, "Mommy, Daddy, Megan's hurt! Megan's hurt!"

The Banette had its gaze on the doorway (it was concealed behind some plush-toys) but it trailed over to the little girl sleeping before it, and it tilted its head in thought before crawling forward as she had and poking her in the head. DL, still unconscious, smiled in her sleep and mumbled something like, "The fwied bananas are attackin', Momma…."

Then, it seemed the serious nightmare part of the dream was coming about, for their vision of the room began to twist and warp like the time Palkia had missed his soaps, and dark tendrils of black oozed from her walls and wrapped around her, pulling her into the floor much like Darkrai could do willingly as it all seemed to go to hell. The Poke Dolls all around them literally melted off of the shelves and dresser, and pictures and posters starting to bleed black and smoldered as they curled upon themselves in a grotesque display. It was like watching an invisible fire consume everything in the room….

"Ouch!" Cresselia flinched as she felt something stinging her paw, and then her eyes narrowed as she withdrew her paw close to her 'chest' area (if you could call it that) as she murmured, "That feels like the time I narrowly dodged a Fire Blast…."

As soon as she had said that, they all heard screaming coming from outside: "Fire! Fire! Oh, please, somebody help!" It was a familiar voice, but it was so high in a pitch of fear and helplessness and desperation that it seemed to hardly be her. Immediately, the two Legendaries flew out of the house, startled slightly as the window collapsed upon itself as they zoomed through it and showered them with ashes and sparks that they still couldn't see; it was as if everything was there except the fire, like it was the actor late for its part. It was the strangest thing in the world, but then again, this was a dream – or, more accurately, a nightmare. They weren't known for making the best sense in the world.

They burst out of the house to see blurry things all around the house, what was once trees replaced with things indescribable, without real shape or form, like shadows dancing in the dark forest. They could see younger DL, running from the house and tripping over her own feet until she fell down finally to greet the ground rather roughly with her face, detail clear on her face (although they were pretty far away) as they could see the tear stains running down her cheeks and causing the dirt and little bits of plants and leaves to stick there. She was a sobbing mess, trying desperately to get away from the house and yet not seeming able to run rather well, more a sort of slow-motion jog then anything else. It was as if something was trying to drag her back towards the house, a monster, the shadows, the invisible fire, something….

"I think we've done enough of dancing through her dreams," Darkrai nodded his head down at the girl, racing through the blurry trees as if her life depended on it, and Cresselia would have raised an eyebrow if she had one before she turned to look at him in slight shock.

"'Dancing through her dreams'? How romantic." He only scowled.

"Ah!" Attentions returned to DL as she suddenly fell down as her foot caught on a root (Tch, Darkrai thought, so cliché.) and she slammed down to the ground like a freight train. She didn't get up like they thought she would, but then dream-Butterscotch seemed to appear out of nowhere and raise her up, grunting, "Raichu! Raichuuu! Rai-CHU!" (Come on, Megan! Get up! Let's go!) She didn't get up, however, and she cradled her head in her hands and cried as something dark overwhelmed her, dragging her from Butterscotch's paws as she screamed that traditional bloodcurdling scream when –

"Ack!" (DL)

"Whoa!" (Cresselia)

"Ugh…." (Darkrai)

Shirley blinked for a moment, frowning at the sudden sight of the Legendaries reappearing in the guest room in the Legendary Palace, before she carefully asked, "…Uh, what happened?"

"…What? What happened, what?" DL was rubbing her eyes as she tried to discreetly wipe away the tears in case anyone was there. However, as soon as she said that, Cresselia snapped her head towards the door and bolted out (A/N: she wasn't a bitch to catch in the games for nothing!) before she could be seen while Darkrai simply did his shadow-y thing and disappeared into the floor, leaving Shirley there for a moment before she gasped quietly and followed the Lunar Swan out the door. All was quiet after a moment in the room as DL finally finished her eye-rubbing and looked around (still bleary-eyed), mumbling, "…huh…?"

After some tense moments of nothing happening, she relaxed with a shrug, hugged the Egg closer to her with a drowsy smile, and fell back down to rest, nearly knocked out cold before she hit the pillow. A while of silence, and a light snore reached outside into the hallway before it was completely silent once more.


(Hot Springs, 11:34 pm.)

(A/N: Hey, that's kind of creepy…it's, like, exactly an hour after the time this chapter started!)

"Hey, guys," Mesprit mumbled dazedly, for they were still in that sinfully wonderful hot spring, "what do you think Cresselia's doing to Darkrai right about now?"

"Probably ripping his guts out of his mouth," Celebi said with a relaxed sigh, feeling so at eased that she could probably fall asleep in there.

Suicune nodded at the idea and added, her eyes closed, "Or tearing his limbs off only to beat him with them."

"Yeah," Jirachi smiled, "that sounds about right."

They all let out one simultaneous, relieved sigh.

"Did I tell you how much I loved these springs?"

"Yes, Suicune," Celebi rolled her eyes, "you did. And you're welcome. Again."


Alright, sorry that I'm not working these out really fast or anything. D: I've been dealing with school, but since exams are coming up, I should be more free with the absence of homework! Because, seriously, there's no point in me studying and cramming now - if I can't remember it from an entire year of teaching, I won't remember it even with cramming and crap. :P

So, anyways, hope you enjoyed this! I'm trying to get back into the Sonic-verse writing groove, though, so I won't be as completely absorbed in the Poke-verse as I have been for the longest time. Sorry! 3:

Lots of dragon-y love (and cookies!)
~DL ('Dragon Lover')

P.S.: Should I shorten my normal signature? It gets sort of annoying to keep writing the entire thing when the second line sort of sums it all up...but I'm sorta attached to it all the same. :/